It's like the media WANTS me to hate the Pope.

[Bouncy Ball]

I was trapped in a hotel room all weekend. Just got home. There were sixteen channels on the cable and five of them were all news, all the time. There was no on-screen menu (weird) so I had to flip through them every time I was looking for something to watch. There was quite literally NOTHING to do. No laptop, no computer access, I forgot the novel I've been reading at home. (Except for the three hours I met up with some DUers for Sunday brunch, THANK YOU, GUYS!! And it was nice meeting those of you I hadn't met!!)

But even at that restaurant, they had a large plasma screen TV on the Pope-a-thon. There was no escape.

Now, I have totally neutral feelings about him. Seriously, I do. To me, he's a man who was the head of a church. And he passed away at an advanced age. Period.

But with the wall-to-wall coverage of his body and all the inane comments that were constantly being streamed through all five news channels, I would think the media *wants* my opinion of him to be negative. :shrug:

Oh look, it's the pope again, there's someone looking at him. And now, there's someone else looking at him, and now there's someone else looking at him. And now there's a shot of the Vatican. And a shot of some people singing. And now the talking head will talk about him for another ten minutes, then we'll see his body again.

@#$*#@*$@#

Is there not ANYTHING else going on in the world? I mean NO disrespect to the pope or to those who are saddened by his death, but seriously, before 24 hour news channels, this wouldn't be happening, so it's not like going to other news stories would signal a lack of respect or something.

I was even flipping past ESPN and they were talking about basketball or something and they mentioned the Pope.

I have no idea what the news is like today and I'm not looking. I totally agree that his passing IS a big world event, but wall-to-wall coverage for days? There isn't even much happening. They've explained the whole process of what happens now OODLES of times (and I know that with only my self-limited viewing of the news), they've interviewed everyone who ever came near him, they've prognosticated as to who will be the next Pope literally for HOURS.

I wonder sometimes if the news networks don't even know where to stop, where to draw the line and say "Ok guys, we've pretty much done all we can do on this. We'll give updates and we'll cover the funeral, but let's start working back in some other stories now."

Sometimes I think 24 hour news networks are a bad idea.

[Inland]

1. Can't they do every other hour? nt

[IrateCitizen]

2. Only SOMETIMES you think 24-hr news is a bad idea???

For me, it's ALL THE TIME. Seriously, I think that 24-hour news is a HORRIBLE idea.

It used to be that TV news would be covered in the standard broadcasts, and anything that came up that could be considered "breaking" would simply result in a network cutting away from it's regularly scheduled program to give you a special report.

Now, EVERYTHING is considered "breaking", so nothing really matters anymore. It's all white noise and shallow punditry dressed up as news, akin to putting lipstick on a pig and calling it a lady.

I deleted every 24-hour news network from my TV remote, and NEVER watch them anymore. My life is much better as a result.

[Marnieworld]

13. I did the same thing with my remote

I just moved a month or so ago. I was setting the favorites list for my remote. I took out all news channels, all religious channels, all shopping channels and now I only see what I want to see. It's great!

[IrateCitizen]

15. For me, cable news is deleted ENTIRELY.

The only way I can access the channels is if I enter the number manually, or actually go into the menu and re-program them as "added".

[Bouncy Ball]

16. That's pretty smart.

I ought to go through and remove some Mr. Bouncy never watches and wouldn't miss. (He does watch some of it, especially when some big event happens.)

We do like BBC America (BBC World News) and World Link TV (international news broadcasts), because we find out things we wouldn't normally know just listening to fucked-up American sources.

[IrateCitizen]

17. I still keep CSPAN and CSPAN2 as well...

But I don't place them in the same realm as the cable nooze channels.

[Marnieworld]

22. Same with me

I include them too. It isn't whore media. It's without commentary. And a little BBC in case something major happens.

[Kerrytravelers]

3. As a Catholic, I, too, have tired of the Pope-a-thon.

Show me the funeral, so nice resprospectives. But for Heaven's sake, quit glossing voer the controversaries of this Pope. He pushed down women, called homosexuality evil and hid Cardinal Law in the Vatican when that putz should have been in jail.

I'll say a Hail Mary so I'll be forgiven.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

4. For the people who don't like it ( I'm a sucker for news coverage ...

I don't know why ... ) this is going to be on the news for the next month and a half . We have the Pope's death , his funeral soon , and then the Conclave . And we just know that all the news media is gonna try to speculate when they have not a clue as to what is going on . Then once the Pope is announced we will have all the background stories on him ( whoever " he " will be ) . Then news stories on his first 100 days and etc ... sit back its gonna be live from the Vatican for a long while .

[Bouncy Ball]

8. #$&*%($*%($#*

Well, then that just confirms my complete media blackout for a while. I suspected it would be bad. My husband keeps thinking it will taper off, but I said no, they have to do the funeral, then the whole who's it gonna be next thing, then the whole new Pope thing, this is going to be front and center for QUITE some time.

[Arugula Latte]

21. It's the Popeapalooza

24-7

Or maybe Papalpalooza?

[Tweed]

5. Considering the fact that many view Catholicism as 2nd rate Christianity

and many of these people are the powers at be, sure why not?

I think more importantly 24 hour news networks are a great idea, but they have turned into crap. Think of all the news that could be covered. All the great investigative reporting that could go on! So many corrupt institutions could be brought to their knees.

Instead, we get Schiavo, Michael Jackson, and warnings about killer bees. These things are easy to cover. Investigative journalism costs alot of money and can often piss off advertisers. The system is broke. It needs to be fixed.

[Bouncy Ball]

10. I've often thought what a waste 24 hour news networks are.

When they first started up, I remember thinking it was going to be incredible!!! We were going to hear about EVERY little story. Stuff I never normally heard.

Well, my hopes for anything like THAT were dashed pretty quickly.

[tnlefty]

11. Touche'!!! Bring back in-depth, investigative reporting and

documentaries that give people the information that they need to make decisions and to actually learn something.

[adwon]

6. You're not wrong

I'm Catholic and I find the constant coverage to be a bit morbid. It was one thing on Friday and Saturday, when his death was imminent and after the fact. It's quite another for such a spectacle to be made of it.

It was nice to see the procession into the Basilica and I think that was a legitimate thing to be shown. However, if they're going to spend all day just showing the crowds and interviewing everybody can spell the world pope...

In the end, you're right. We're past the point where this has to be a continuous affair.

[Bouncy Ball]

9. Oh yes, I certainly think some of this coverage was

quite warranted. Necessary.

But about 90% of it has been filler. And that's really kind of sad in a way. We are not only not hearing about other stories, but it sort of makes his passing National Enquirer-ish. Tabloidey, after a while.

[adwon]

12. YES!

This continuous coverage is straight National Enquirer-style.

[Robbien]

7. Its natural to feel antagonism when being forcefully manipulated

That is what I feel about all the people in the news media circus. OJ, Peterson, Kobe, Reagan, etc.

[Bouncy Ball]

14. Ew, God, me too.

But now that I'm no longer trapped in a hotel room with nothing to do and nowhere to go, I can avoid the manipulation much more effectively, thank goodness.

[Ernesto]

18. Hotel room? I had your stinkin' hotel room

for the entire spring break week down in Cabo. Every time I turned it on , the TV scene was that same pathetic, goofy, smiling, bobbing head clip of Ms Shaivo...... Well at least, I was able to read 3 books.

[merh]

19. This type of coverage occurred in 1979 and we had only 3

channels then and no DVDs or VCRs or laptop computers.

It lasted forever because we had two popes die and 2 being appointed or elected.

Be grateful you had 9 of 16 channels that weren't covering it and not all the channels that existed - 3!

The pope was a world leader and this is history in the making.

[Junkdrawer]

20. "I got 16 channels of Pope on the TV to choose from..."

apologies to Pink Floyd.

[tashidelek]

23. it is NOT about the Pope

You are entirely right in your assessment, and others feel very much the same:

"I have no idea what the news is like today and I'm not looking. I totally agree that his passing IS a big world event, but wall-to-wall coverage for days? There isn't even much happening. They've explained the whole process of what happens now OODLES of times (and I know that with only my self-limited viewing of the news), they've interviewed everyone who ever came near him, they've prognosticated as to who will be the next Pope literally for HOURS."

Everyone I have spoken with in the last couple of days feels exactly the same, but it isn't just the pope's death, it has been Terri, Michael, and Blake before him. Seems like we don't hear ANY news any more. No reporters. Just what passes for it -- or what they can manage to deceive us is "news."


Meanwhile, there are LOTS of things happening, they just aren't on TV. Big surprise. TURN THE TV OFF!!!